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After a consultation,[2] the Scottish Government confirmed on 8 September 2011[3] that a single fire and rescue service would be created in Scotland to replace the eight existing services.

Following further consultation[4] on the detailed operation of the service, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill was published on 17 January 2012.[5] After scrutiny and debate by the Scottish Parliament, the legislation was approved on 27 June 2012.[6] The Bill duly received royal assent as the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. This Act also created Police Scotland in place of the previous eight regional police forces. The mergers were effective from 1 April 2013. Eight months after the consolidation, an internal report said the reorganisation had not negatively affected operational response.[7]

The service is headquartered in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, which also houses a national training centre opened in January 2013. There are a further three service delivery centres in the east, west and north of the country.[8]

SFRS firefighter douses flames at the Glasgow School of Art fire in May 2014

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service attended 25,002 fires in 2014/15. The service also delivers a preventative programme, with 65,343 free home fire safety visits conducted in 2015/16.[12]

As well as fighting fires, the service attends tens of thousands of specialist services such as road traffic collisions, water rescues and flooding incidents. In 2014/15 it attended 10,740 non-fire incidents.[12]

The service works alongside other emergency services during flooding events to ensure the safety of communities and rescue people in difficulty, with specialist swift water rescue teams positioned on major waterways and areas of activity. Firefighters are routinely called out to water, flood and boat rescues. For example, during Storm Frank in December 2015 the SFRS received 350 flood related calls in the space of six days.[13]

In 2015 a national trial was launched, in partnership with the Scottish Ambulance Service, which has seen firefighters at certain stations receive enhanced CPR training aimed at increasing survival rates for people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.[14]

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service National Training Centre opened in January 2013. The facility in Cambuslang features a mock town with realistic motorways, railway tracks and buildings, including a multi-storey tenement structure.[15]

The number of control rooms handling 999 calls was also reduced from eight to three.

The consolidation of regional call centres has reportedly resulted in a number of dispatching errors. For example, in December 2016 a crew from Raasay was mobilised to an incident on Skye – a journey that would have required taking their fire engine on a ferry – despite an alternative crew being able to reach Skye directly via a road bridge. On another occasion, a crew from Beauly was sent to a blaze 10 miles away in Dingwall as the dispatcher was allegedly unaware Dingwall had its own fire station.[16]